The Devil’s Cage

Behind the curtain of the rain, a monstrous, five-meter tall figure stood like a giant. It flipped the car with ease, as if it was playing with its toys.

A loud, heavy, thunderous roar sounded from the monster’s mouth. It was like a war drum beating in one’s ear.

[Sonic Wave: Inflicts 10 Damage to HP…]

[Sonic Wave: Inflicts 10 Damage to HP…]

...

Notifications kept popping up one after the other, alerting Kieran to the danger he was in. Kieran quickly moved his hand from the handle and covered his ears without a second thought. Meanwhile, he reminded Mr. Big to do the same.

”Cover your ears!” he shouted.

Mr. Big was dizzy, as he had been thrown off along with the car. He quickly covered up his ears after Kieran warned him. However, even though he was much stronger than the car and his men, he still suffered quite some damage.

Kieran noticed that Mr. Big’s men had all been taken by surprise by the monstrous figure. They only reacted and counterattacked after Mr. Big’s car had been flipped over.

However, before the men could inflict some damage on the monster, another thunderous roar was heard, and the monster sent shockwaves all around it. Mr. Big’s men fell down one after the other.

Some of them were twitching and had blood oozing out of all seven of their orifices.

”Stay in the car!” Kieran warned Mr. Big.

Kieran quickly opened the door and leapt out of the car as the monster’s roars paused slightly.

Although Mr. Big’s car was strong enough to survive the flipping, sitting inside the car and waiting for the monster to attack was not Kieran’s style, or what he wanted to do.

Kieran knew that the longer he stayed in a defensive position, the higher his chances of losing would get.

When he left the constraints of the car, he finally got a clear look at the monster.

It was a huge black bear covered in fine black fur. Its limbs were as thick as a grown man’s, and its fangs were as sharp as blades. There was a ferocious look on its face.

Kieran had never seen a bear as big as the one before him in his life. Its sudden appearance, in combination with the sonic wave attack, proved that the monster was no ordinary bear.

Was it an alchemy beast? Kieran was not too sure about that. Compared to the unique bear though, he was actually more concerned about it’s tamer, Paul.

Kieran had activated [Tracking] and he kept sweeping the area, hoping to find a trace of Paul.

The pouring rain had weakened Kieran’s Intuition and [Tracking] by a lot, so all he saw was the rain and all he heard was the sound of raindrops falling.

Even the tracks left behind had been washed away, leaving no trace.

Time was not a luxury Kieran could afford. As the huge bear noticed him, it charged towards him like a fully accelerating tank.

”Sh*t!” Kieran could not help but curse in reaction to the shock wave sent out from the huge bear’s steps. The bear was strong enough to produce shockwaves on the ground with every step it took. Its ridiculous strength during the previous attacks freshened Kieran’s memory and reminded him of the danger he was in.

In contrast to the brute strength the bear had used earlier to flip over the car, it was now charging at Kieran with a mixture of strength and speed, plus the empowerment of a certain skill. Its previous brute strength was not much to worry about in comparison.

The bear was ridiculously fast, and the agility it displayed did not match its huge body. Within a second, it had already reached Kieran, its rush producing a strong, powerful wind that messed up Kieran’s hair and clothes.

As the wind blew past Kieran, a faint force of suction pulled his body towards the bear.

Kieran’s expression changed slightly. The bear was much stronger than he had anticipated. Even his D Rank Constitution might not be able to withstand a hit from such a huge bear, unless he was willing to activate [Primus Scale]. However, using his ace card so early on in the battle was not an option. The enemy had not showed its ace card either, which was the man still hiding in the dark. Paul.

Paul was the ace card of their enemy’s assault, the tamer that always led the beast. The huge bear was loyal to its master, and it would only obey a stronger being than itself, not a weaker one, which meant that Paul had to be even stronger than the bear before Kieran.

However, no matter how strong Paul was, he was still a man. He had chosen to tame a beast instead of transform into one, because humans could still maintain their intelligence.

Using his intelligence, Paul was waiting for a chance to present itself. He was waiting for his bear to create the perfect diversion so he could come forward and finish Kieran himself.

Despite all the thoughts flashing like lightning in his mind, Kieran quickly pulled a left side roll and escaped the bear’s range.

As Kieran rolled away from the bear, he held the newly acquired [MI-02] in his right hand and the [Lightning Tiger’s Finger] in his left hand.

Paul did not appear though. He was much more vigilant than Kieran had thought he’d be.

The huge bear let out a thunderous shockwave roar again when it missed its target.

Kieran backed up quickly and started shooting with his [MI-02].

The silenced handgun had a softer, more concentrated noise compared to a normal one, but its power did not diminish one bit. With Kieran’s Grand Master Level [Firearm Weapon (Light Firearm)], its potential was used to the fullest, leaving everyone speechless.

Two bullets landed accurately inside the bear’s mouth.

[Shooting: Weak Point Attack, Inflicts 100 Damage to Target HP, (50 Firearm Weapon (Light Firearm)(Grand Master) X2), Target has Medium Tensile Armor, Beginner’s Iron Skin Skill, Resisted 40 Damage, 60 True Damage Inflicted to Target…]

[Shooting: Weak Point Attack, Inflicts 100 Damage to Target HP, (50 Firearm Weapon (Light Firearm)(Grand Master) X2), Target has Medium Tensile Armor, Beginner’s Iron Skin Skill, Resisted 40 Damage, 60 True Damage Inflicted to Target…]

...

The notifications made Kieran raise his eyebrows. It was really an alchemy beast. The Medium Tensile Armor and Beginner Iron Skin were enough to show Kieran what kind of monster he was facing exactly.

However, Kieran was not nervous at all. After all, this was not a big deal compared to Colossal Primus, which had had a ridiculous Immune Damage Skill.

Kieran fired another shot into the huge bear’s mouth, the continuous pain sending the bear into an angry, frenzied mode.

Its simple mind told it to close up his mouth to prevent any further damage, which was exactly what Kieran wanted.The formless sonic wave attack had been Kieran’s main source of worry.

Kieran raised his [MI-02] again and pointed it towards the huge bear. He looked like he wanted to shoot it again, but he was actually just keeping an eye out on their surroundings, looking for Paul.

Paul had to appear any moment now, as the bear could not hold on for much longer. Unless he was willing to lose his alchemy beast, he had to come forward.

And yet…

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A series of huge explosions were heard from the Sphendix Headquarters not far away, bright flames shooting up high in the sky.

The huge explosions sent shockwaves throughout area. Kieran, who had been caught off guard by the explosions, was sent flying into the air.

A moment of silence struck the rainy night, followed by a loud crumbling sound. The Sphendix Headquarters were about to collapse. Kieran opened his eyes wide, looking at the building crumbling down. Before he could give it a second thought though, another danger had appeared before him.

A black figure had materialized in the pouring rain.

It was Paul!